{"id":1229,"date":"2009-11-30T09:41:01","date_gmt":"2009-11-30T17:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=1229"},"modified":"2013-08-21T08:17:57","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T16:17:57","slug":"why-free-costs-you-a-lot-more-than-you-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/why-free-costs-you-a-lot-more-than-you-think\/","title":{"rendered":"Why “Free” Costs You a Lot More Than You Think"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n

Image Courtesy of <\/em>Vintage Roadside’s @ Flickr<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Did the word \u201cfree\u201d in the title grab your attention?<\/p>\n

We live in the internet age, where we\u2019re growing more and more accustomed to getting things for free. Whether it\u2019s information from blogs and online newspapers, services like email and Twitter, or images, videos and music tracks, it\u2019s all free<\/em> and it\u2019s there for the taking.<\/p>\n

The problem is, \u201cfree\u201d could be costing you a lot more than you think.<\/p>\n

\u201cFree\u201d Short-Circuits Your Brain<\/h2>\n

In his book Predictably Irrational, <\/em>Dan Ariely discusses the power of \u201cfree\u201d \u2013 and how it seems to short-circuit our logical thinking:<\/p>\n

In one trial of one study we offered students a Lindt Truffle for 26 cents and a Hershey\u2019s Kiss for 1 cent and observed the buying behavior: 40 percent went with the truffle and 40 percent with the Kiss. When we dropped the price of both chocolates by just 1 cent, we observed that suddenly 90 percent of participants opted for the free Kiss, even though the relative price between the two was the same. We concluded that FREE! is indeed a very powerful force.<\/p>\n

(The Nuances of the FREE! Experiment<\/a>, Predictably Irrational)<\/p>\n

The word free<\/em><\/strong> often makes us ignore other options, even if these would represent extremely good value.<\/strong><\/p>\n

How often have you gone for something free<\/em>… when spending just a dollar or two might\u2019ve saved you a lot of time and effort? How did that free<\/em> thing work out for you?<\/p>\n

\u201cFree\u201d Costs You Time<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s easy to assume that anything free<\/em> is a no-brainer: you can\u2019t lose by having something that\u2019s free, right? Actually, you can. You could end up spending a lot of time and energy on something which would\u2019ve been a lot simpler if you\u2019d paid a few dollars.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I remember spending, literally, a whole day<\/em> struggling to accomplish a task that would\u2019ve taken seconds if I\u2019d been willing to bite the bullet sooner and pay for software instead of using a \u201cfree\u201d version.<\/p>\n

How much is your time worth to you? If you work for yourself, there\u2019s a very direct relationship between how much time you spend working and how much money you make. Sometimes, the \u201cfree\u201d options actually works out a lot more expensive.<\/p>\n

\u201cFree\u201d Draws You In and Gets You to Buy<\/h2>\n

Marketers have been using free<\/em> to get people to buy for decades. In the age of the internet, this is becoming even more prevalent. Perhaps you can get a free DVD in return for your mailing address, or a free report in exchange for your email address. You can read blog after blog without spending a dime. At some point, though, you\u2019re likely to be sold<\/em> something.<\/p>\n

In some cases, that\u2019s not a bad thing at all. The \u201cfree\u201d sample or product or service gave you a taste, and you loved it so much that you know purchasing will be a great decision. Sometimes, though, you can find yourself getting pressured into spending on things you don\u2019t really want. Maybe you start using a \u201cfree\u201d service and then have to upgrade to a premium one in order to get the features that you need \u2013 if you\u2019d shopped around in the first place, you might have got something better.<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t need to avoid everything that\u2019s free<\/em><\/strong> … just be aware that marketers know what they\u2019re doing. <\/strong>They aren\u2019t giving away valuable information or products just for the sake of it: they\u2019re trying to convert you from a prospect into a customer.<\/p>\n

When \u201cFree\u201d is <\/em>Good<\/h2>\n

I\u2019m certainly not suggesting that we all turn our backs on free<\/em> products. Sometimes, a freebie is high-quality \u2013 it could even be better than something which you pay for.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d suggest that free<\/em> options are a good idea when:<\/p>\n